Railway-rail structure.



11 s. NETHBRGUT. AILWAY BAIL STRUCTURE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 5, 1909.

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

WWI-1711111111774 earns FFICE.

RAILWAY-RAIL STRUCTURE.

Specification of Letters l atent.

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

Application filed April 5, 1909. Serial No. 488,090.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR S. Nn'rnnRoU'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Rail Structures, of which the following is a spccificz tion.

This invention relates to the construction of rail structures wherein one rail crosses or diverges from another rail, such as right-angle and acute-angle crossings, frogs, mates, and run-offs.

The invention will be herein described as applied to a crossing.

In the construction of crossings it is now good practice to make the top of the rail or running surface in one plane, and to raise the bed of the throatway by means of an incline from the normal position at some distance from the intersection of the throatways to a height which is below the normal top of the rail by anamount equal to the depth of-the flange of the car wheel. l Vith such an arrangement of the throatway the wheel flange carries the wheel across the other throatway in a level plane. If the bottom of the throatway were not thus raised with relation to the top of the rail the wheel would have no support in passing over the other throatway. This would be of only an instants duration but suliicient to cause a slight drop with its attendant pound on the topof the rail. The result would soon be a pounding down of the crossing surface at this point and a tendency to break up the crossing structure.

Because of the double service upon the head of the crossing structure which carries the treads of the wheels at the intersection of the throatways, this portion of the crossing wears faster than the parts of the top of the crossing away from the intersection of the throatways, the beds of the throatways likewise being worn down. It is customary to prevent undue pounding of the wheel at this point by grinding the top of the crossing structure at the intersection of the rails to a new surface, and forming a gradual decline from the normal top of the rail to the new surface. In this manner and at small expense the structure is maintained without the otherwise attendant pound and noise. This maintenance can be continued until the incline becomes so abrupt as to become a drop, at which time the usual life of the structure is at an end.

Myinveution consists in adding metal to the norinai top of the crossing structure at the point of maximum wear and providing a suitable incline so that this elevated surface may be reached without jar. By so doing, additional life is gained, and the use of highpriced metal in other parts than those receiving the wear is made economical.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a top plan view of a right-angle crossing structure embodying the features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of said crossing. Figs. 3 and t are sections on lines 3 3 and 4 4:, respectively, of Fig. 2.

lteferring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the portion 1 of the heads of the crossing rails at the intersection of said rails is thicker than the outer ends of said rail: as to raise the tread portion 2 above th, normal plane of the rails, inclined portions 3 being provided so that the surface 2 may be' reached without jar. The bottoms of the grooves or throatways 4 are raised, by means of inclines 5, from their normal position, so that at the intersection of said throatways the bottoms thereof are below the surfaces 2 adistance equal to the depth of the flange of the car wheel. When the structure is in good condition, the flange Y of the wheel, running upon the bed of the throatway, carries the wheel over the intersection of the throatways without shock. WVhen the tread portion 2 and the bed of the throatways have worn down so as to form depressions which cause an undue amount of pounding, the head 1 and the beds of the throatways are ground down sufficiently to remove the depressions. In the course of time, re-- peated wear and grinding brings the tread surface 2 into the normal plane of the rails, after which continued wear and grinding finally reduces the running surface and the throatway to the positionindicated'by dotted lines in Fig. 3. i

It will be seen that my invention'doubles the life of the structure, since there is twice as much metal in the structure tobe-removed by wear and maintenance work. i

I have herein shown the invention as ap plied to a crossing assumed to be made wholly of hard and tough metal, as, for example, manganese steel, but it will be un forms, but .to frogs, mates, and other strucderstood that the invention may be embodied in structures wherein only the portions receiving the maximum wear are formed of such material.

My invention, by lengthening the life of the structure, makes economical the use of such high-priced metal as manganese steel .in other parts than those subjected to the greatest wear.

It will be understood thatthe invention is applicable not only to crossings of various surface, and inclinesconnecting the elevated tread portion with the tread portions of normalheight.

2. A railway rail structure comprising two rails which meet each other, the heads 25 of the rails at the meetingpoint being thickened to elevate the tread surface at said point above the normal plane of the tread surface, and inclines connecting the elevated tread portion with the tread portions of30 normal height, each of said 'rails having a throatway therein, and the beds of said throatways being inclined upwardly toward the meeting point to a point below the elevated tread surface at the meeting point, the 85 depth of said throatways at the meeting point being not greater than the depth of a car wheel flange.- v i EDGAR S. NETHERCUT.- Witnesses;

GEORGE E. Low, HORATIO A. FOSTER. 

